News and Updates from Friends of Kakamega

SACK GARDENS OFFER A CONSISTENT SUPPLY OF FRESH VEGGIES

9/23/2017

Participants in our new Strong & Healthy Young Women program recently learned how to build kitchen sack gardens as part of a workshop promoting better nutrition.

The young women start planting a sack garden by inserting sukuma wiki seedlings into holes around the side

These sacks full of soil and manure take very little space and require minimal effort to weed and water yet the technique produces quite a bit of food. With their own multi-story gardens at home, the 26 young women involved and their children will have a consistent and convenient, year-round variety of fresh vegetables for their kitchens.

The young women learned about the importance of different vegetables for maternal and child nutrition in a workshop, and, afterward, they went outside to practice building a multi-story sack garden. KOCC graduate Priscah Chamasia recently completed a diploma in nutrition and a hospital internship advising new mothers, so she was the perfect teacher for the workshop and was happy to contribute.

Following the nutrition workshop, the twenty-six young women and Priscah got hands-on experience by filling and planting vegetable sack gardens on a small strip of empty land behind the Care Centre. Soon, participants will be harvesting their own sack garden produce at home, and the low-cost planters pictured in this post will be producing food for Care Centre children while serving as an inspiration to visitors and passerby.

KOCC graduate and nutritionist Priscah Chamasia instructs participants on the health benefits of eating a diversity of fresh vegetables

KOCC grad Priscah helps separate seedlings for planting

Our farming expert Alfred plants one of many small, moveable sack gardens

Workshop instructor Alfred Kitayi (left) talks participants through the initial steps of building a multi-story sack garden

Participants begin to fill the multi-story sack garden after it is anchored with stones

A young woman punctures holes on the side of a sack, to prepare for planting sukuma wiki (collard greens), nightshade, spinach, and tomatoes

With nearly 200 stems planted, this demonstration garden will soon produce a lot of veggies from a small space, augmenting what the Care Centre buys and inspiring visitors to make their own

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MAXIMILLA NYONGESA'S INSPIRING STORY

7/11/2017

As Maximlla Nyongesa graduates from our first "small farm business training" program, we wish to share her inspiring story.

Barely in her twenties, Maximilla is the youngest of her siblings and the only one providing care for her handicapped mother. A diligent planner, she launched a kale-and-spinach horticulture business as part of our program and then reinvested her venture's proceeds to diversify into rearing layer hens and goats. From her farm income Maximilla is now able to pay her own way through college at Sigalagala Technical Training Institute, where she is working toward a Certificate in General Agriculture. She hopes that with advanced training she will one day make a name and a better living for herself as a commercial farmer. Maximilla, we salute you for your hard work and for being a true role model to so many young women in the Kakamega community!

NATHAN WITINDU'S THRIVING FARM

6/21/2017

Nathan Witundu joined our small farm-business training program Agriculture Livelihoods in 2014 and is now graduating as a leader and role model among his peers.

We are impressed with his tireless efforts, and for reminding us that, with education and a small hand up, it is possible for one person’s sacrifice and hard work to transform the future of an entire family.

Nathan had to leave high school after his sophomore year for lack of fees and was out of school for a year before joining our program. In his first year in the program, he grew maize for both food and sale and reinvested his profits in the purchase of a young calf.

In his second year, he grew horticultural crops on his family’s ¾ acre farm plot, steadfast in his efforts to cultivate crops that could fetch a good price in local markets. Today he grows kale, cowpeas, nightshade, and other crops and earns enough from their sale to support his mother and three younger siblings in elementary school.

Nathan eagerly applied his lessons in planning, marketing, and cost-effective, mostly organic soil fertility management. He worked hard to make compost for his farm and has demonstrated great foresight by rotating his crops and expanding his business. For example, his cow, now a year old, produces manure that fertilizes his horticulture crops and increases his yields even more. It is likely that his cow could bring more income every month than many of his neighbors can squeeze from their maize farms in an entire year.

We commend Nathan for his hard work, sacrifices, and dedication to a farm endeavor that has great potential but requires a lot of hard, dirty, and exhausting work. While some of his similarly situated peers reject farm work and search for unavailable white-collar jobs, Nathan is hard at work each day improving the future for himself and his family.

LAUNCHING OUR STRONG & HEALTHY YOUNG WOMEN PROGRAM

6/12/2017

We are thrilled to announce that we have recently launched Strong & Healthy Young Women, our fourth small farm business program for out-of-school youth.

The program offers 25 young women training in small business planning and income-oriented farm production or trading, while also providing them with micro-grants to help start their independent ventures.

All of the participants at their first meeting

Taking notes during the first workshop

Similar to our other agricultural/small business programs, Strong & Healthy Young Women adds important new components. The participants, most of whom are young mothers, will also get training in child & maternal nutrition; participate in workshops on life skills, such as financial literacy; and attend a retreat which will cover sexual and reproductive health.

Building on our success with similar programs, we are excited to be able to keep expanding our efforts to help deserving but vulnerable young people build strong, independent, and healthy lives for themselves and their families.

We are grateful to the Avison Charitable Fund for funding this program.

One of the S&HYW program participants, attending with her child

Program director Alfred Kitayi cracks a joke as he hands out notebooks and bookkeeping materials

Young farm entrepreneurs reinvest in livestock

5/30/2017

Our small farm business programs manager Alfred Kitayi often sends us photos from his mobile phone that illustrate the positive impact our programs have on the community's youth.

As we move from our third to fourth small "agribusiness" training program, we share in his happiness with the results. Participating youth are now growing more food for their families, earning meaningful cash incomes from their harvests, and reinvesting their profits in farm animals (pictured) and other business activities. Everyone involved is very excited about the outcomes so far!